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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoFred SquillanteEugene Holman consults with an attorney during a legal clinic at Meadowview Village in Mount Sterling. The Paralegal Association of Central Ohio has held 13 free clinics so far.

Seniors get help in crafting wills -

Jerry Fuller hopes it will be awhile before he has to make another trip to the hospital. But if
he does have to call paramedics, he'll have slightly more peace of mind.

Fuller, 72, and his wife, Geneva, 66, now know who will take care of them if they get too sick
to make decisions for themselves and where their possessions will go. They drafted their first
wills last week at the Paralegal Association of Central Ohio's law clinic.

"We just kept putting it off," Mr. Fuller said as he waited to sit down with a lawyer and
paralegal on Wednesday night. "If we don't do something, the courts will. This way, we know where
everything is going."

The Fullers were among a dozen residents served by the traveling clinic at Meadowview Village in
Mount Sterling in Madison County. Four sets of lawyers and paralegals donated their time to outfit
the senior citizens with wills, health-care and financial power of attorney documents, living
wills, and organ-donation directives.

Unlike at some other legal clinics, which offer only advice and guidance, those at this clinic
leave with documents in hand at no cost. And instead of the seniors having to travel, the lawyers
come to them, making a stop at different community centers and senior living complexes throughout
central Ohio each month. The Columbus Bar Association helps train and provide lawyers to do the
simple estate planning, assisted by the Legal Aid Society of Columbus.

The paralegal association began the first-of-its-kind traveling clinics in Ohio in May 2010.
Since then, it has held 13 and served more than 150 senior citizens, said organizer Teresa Scharf,
chairwoman of the association's pro bono committee. Six more clinics are planned before
October.

Most seeking assistance from the clinics never had a will or other end-of-life documents before.
For others, it was something they hadn't updated in decades.

"So many of these folks don't think they need a will," said Scharf, who hears many residents
tell her that they don't have many assets. "But it's important for everyone to have a will."

Eugene Holman, 74, never thought to have a will. But now, "what little bit I have will be taken
care of." He made his ex-wife his beneficiary and gave her power of attorney.

"A lot of times, people just don't like to think about death and disability," said lawyer Eric
McLoughlin, who has helped with the clinics since the start. "They don't want to think about these
types of things. ... Everyone knows they should, but it's a matter of getting it done."

Sue Hallam, service coordinator for both Meadowview Village and Melanie Manor in Grove City,
said most of her residents could never afford the $500 to $1,000 it would cost to have a private
attorney draw up the documents.

"Most of the time, when people need legal services, when they hear the price tag, that's the end
of the discussion; they can't afford it," she said.

Some of the clinics have come just in time. In January, the clinic visited Stygler Village in
Gahanna. As the lawyers and paralegals were closing up shop, an elderly woman begged them to make
room for her. They did, and she left a short time later with her will.

"That was on a Tuesday evening," Scharf said. "I got a phone call the following Monday, advising
that that very lady had a heart attack the day before and passed away. Her family was so thankful.
They had no idea that their mother, their grandmother, had a will.

"That really put a fine point on the importance for this service, especially for this segment of
the population," she said.